Bridging the digital divide through e-governance - A proposal for Africa's libraries and information centres

Purpose - The paper aims to present the status of the digital divide in Africa and the implications for libraries, and to demonstrate that, contrary to recent published findings, the digital divide is not narrowing. Design/methodology/approach - A general literature review is undertaken, along with a case study of the digital divide in an academic setting. Findings - Africa still suffers from rampant poverty, and consequently resources that could be utilised to bridge the digital divide are directed at meeting peoples basic survival needs, including food, shelter, health care, housing, etc. Additionally, governments are increasingly adopting e-government initiatives that libraries could explore for automation. Research limitations/implications - More research is needed to show why - given that the gap between rich and poor countries is increasing, and that economic development is a good predictor of ICT uptake - that the digital divide between developed and developing countries is claimed to be narrowing. Practical implications - Libraries have the potential to use e-government initiatives for automation, but they need to exert influence on their governments through advocacy and other measures. Originality/value - Few studies, especially in Africa, have explored the potential of e-governance for library automation. Similarly, issues of the digital divide have in the past been looked at largely from international and national perspectives, with little attention being paid to the existence of the phenomenon within libraries. Finally, existing studies on the digital divide largely use ICT metrics without paying much attention to the totality of other variables that influence the digital divide. This paper provides a proposal on how e-governance could be used to narrow the digital divide within libraries in Africa.